


Our Apprenticeship

by Vinnocent



Series: Teen Titans: Morph! [15]
Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate, DCU, Teen Titans (Animated Series)
Genre: Abandonment, Blood and Gore, Consent Issues, Emetophobia, Episode: s01e13 Apprentice, F/M, Implied/Referenced Anthropophogy, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Multi, fantastic genocide, torture of a child
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-04
Updated: 2014-05-04
Packaged: 2018-01-21 23:27:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1567856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vinnocent/pseuds/Vinnocent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Teen Titans and Animorphs unite to search for Jake, but Robin is still helping Slade steal major items.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Marco? Hey, Marco. Get up.”

Marco groaned and turned over in bed, staring back at his father through bleary eyes. “It’s Saturday,” he mumbled. “I think.” Then, "Maybe Sunday."

Peter just stared at him for a moment. Then, quietly, he asked, “Have you been crying?”

Like a punch right to his heart, the events of the other night came crashing back into his memory. Marco wiped red, irritated eyes and cheeks with the back of his hand. He had, in fact, fallen asleep crying. “What?” he said, sitting up and forcing a small laugh. “Nope. No. Definitely not.”

“I mean, it’s okay if－”

“Dad!” Marco snapped a little too sharply. He took a deep, steadying breath. “Why did you get me up?”

“Jean Berenson’s on the phone for you,” Peter said, his voice giving away his worry and confusion.

Marco felt like he was going to throw up. “Okay,” he said. “I’ll go get it.”

“Marco…” Peter asked gently. “Did something happen?”

 _No, nothing. My best friend just went missing suddenly, leaving no body and no Controller that we can find. And I don’t know whether to grieve him or grab you and run,_ Marco thought, but instead he stared blankly back at his father and asked, “What would happen?”

Peter just frowned and wrung his fingers nervously. “You should go talk to Mrs. Berenson,” he said quietly.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m going. Stop being weird.” Marco shoved himself out of bed and made his way as slowly as possible down to the phone, hoping Jean would just give up and hang up on him. Finally, he picked up the phone. No dial tone. He swallowed nervously. “Mrs. Berenson?” he asked as innocently as possible.

“Hi,” she said awkwardly. “Um, hi, Marco. I was calling…” She took a deep breath. “I was calling to see if Jake was there?”

“No, he’s not.” Marco ignored the small whimper on the other end and kept up the act of innocence. “Why would you think he was here?”

“I know. I know. Your father said. It’s just…” Another whimper as she tried to hold back tears. “I mean, did you hang out yesterday? At all? Have you seen him?”

“Not since school,” Marco said casually. Then, “Is something wrong? Can I ask why you’re asking?”

“Marco, I…” And then the bawling started. “We can’t find him! Marco, I don’t know where he is. I don’t know why he hasn’t come home.” More bawling.

Bile burned the back of his throat. “I… okay… That’s… But, I mean… Come on, this is Jake we’re talking about. He doesn’t… He’d never…” Never what? What were normal people afraid of?

Jean just cried harder.

“I… uh… Well, I think… Hold please.” Marco dropped the phone and bolted to the bathroom, barely making it in time to vomit into the toilet. Not that there was much left to chuck, after all the vomiting he’d done last night. “If he’s not dead, I’m going to kill him,” Marco groaned to himself.

And then the dam broke.

－ －

“OOMPH!” Jake huffed, falling on his ass again. “This is stupid,” he whined. “I can morph! Why on earth do you need me to learn gymnastics?”

“Morphing too much gives it away,” Slade answered from some shadowed balcony above. “You wouldn’t want to endanger your friends by luring them after you, would you?”

Robin glared down at his partner. “Okay, forget balance beam for right now,” he said, ignoring Slade above them. “Obviously, we need to start with the _really basic basics_ and teach you how to fall right.”

“What are you talking about?” Jake asked. He sat up on the hard floor (apparently, Slade believed cushioning mats encouraged failure), rubbed his shoulder, and turned to look at Robin. “I just fell.”

“Are you standing?” Robin asked. His voice was patient, but his mouth was a thin, grim line.

“Uh… no?”

“Then, obviously, you fell wrong,” Robin sneered viciously. “NOW GET UP!”

－ －

Rachel allowed Melissa’s head to rest on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her as she pushed mashed potatoes around on her plate. Across the table, Cassie sat with her forehead pressed against the table surface and her arms folded over her head to keep people from watching her weep her way through lunch. Of course, the shaking shoulders gave it away.

“You two. Up now.”

Rachel and Cassie both turned to see Marco standing at the head of their table with his arms clasped behind him. Rachel sighed, “Not now, Marco.”

Melissa raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you upset?” she asked, suspiciously. Marco answered by snarling at her.

“He doesn’t get depressed,” Rachel mumbled. “He gets mad. He didn’t even cry for his _mom_.”

“Please stop,” Cassie moaned, tears trailing down wet cheeks.

Marco glanced at her, then returned his attention to Rachel. “I really don’t care what you think. I’m hear to tell you that I just talked to the cops, and now it’s your turn.”

That was when Cassie noticed that Marco was holding a newspaper behind his back. He squeezed the paper briefly and gave her a significant glance.

“I already talked to the cops,” Rachel objected. “I’ve had it up to hear with tal--"

“Well, I haven’t,” Cassie said, jumping to her feet and reaching across the table to grab Rachel’s arm and pull her to her feet. “We all want Jake found. We’re all going to talk as much as needed to help that happen as soon as possible,” she insisted, grabbing Marco and heading toward the door with both of them in tow.

“Uh, but Marco’s already--"

“No, that’s okay,” Marco insisted, taking Cassie’s hand and leading the girls out of the lunch room. He kept pulling them along the hall, well past the school office where any authority figure would be expected to speak with them and out a back door, finally releasing them.

Rachel looked between them in confusion. “What’s going on with you two?” she demanded, crossing her arms.

“I think Marco has something to tell us,” Cassie said, pointing at the newspaper in Marco’s other hand.

Marco nodded, unfolded it, and held it out to present to them. “Recognize the photo?” he asked.

Rachel raised a skeptical eyebrow. “It’s the Teen Titans. Again. They’re always in the paper.”

Marco rolled his eyes. “Right. And who is always in every single photo of the Teen Titans no matter what, because he’s Jump City’s golden boy, not to mention Gotham’s?”

Rachel snatched the paper out of Marco’s hands and stared at the photo in disbelief. “Robin…”

Cassie peered around Rachel’s shoulder at the photo. “I don’t understand,” she said. “Why isn’t Robin in the photo?”

Marco spread his hands. “I have absolutely no idea,” he said, grinning. “There’s no mention of him one way or the other in the article about the break-in at the armory last night. There’s nothing in hero gossip. Hasn’t been since the night before last. It’s like he disappeared off the face of the planet.”

“Just like Jake,” Rachel realized, looking up from the paper.

“Don’t you find it a little odd that _both_ our leaders disappear at the same time?” Marco demanded.

Cassie nodded, feather tattoo already spreading across her skin. “Go,” she ordered. “I’ll get Ax and Tobias.”

“Uh…” Marco said, blushing. He ran a hand back through his hair. “They’re sort of already here.” He pointed up. “You know… just in case.”

“Huh,” said Rachel, watching the tiny dots of two birds circling the building high in in the air. “I kind of assumed you’d have at least one of them watching your dad if not the rest of our parents.”

“I would have,” said Marco, pulling out his phone. He held it out to show the slew of text-messages from Peter that were “just checking up.” “But the only time there’s enough gap for anyone to infest him is when we’re in the same house.”

Rachel snorted. “Mom’s been exactly the same. Even Dad a bit. She got Jordan and Sarah phones _just_ so she can do the same to them.”

Cassie sighed in relief. “Never have I been happier for over-protective parents.”

－ －

They were almost to Titans Tower when the windows on the sixteenth floor blew out. The four seagulls immediately swooped higher to avoid any shots, Star Bolts, Sonic Cannon blasts, or flying debris from an ensuing fight. But nothing happened.

<Okay, which one of us is going to check that out?> Marco asked, finding a perch on the edge of the roof. Tobias perched on an antenna on the other side to look less like he was hanging out with seagulls, which wouldn’t really be normal hawk behavior.

<Weenie,> Rachel accused before tucking her wings and diving down to check it out.

“Agh!” Raven shouted, ducking aside as Rachel sailed past her, landing on the television as more windows blew out, seemingly of their own volition. She turned and glared at the bird. “I hate wildlife,” she grumbled.

“I take offense to that!” Beast Boy objected.

“Really?” Cyborg snorted, typing at a computer console. “It’s not like every single thing he’s said all day has been offensive.”

<Did you just call Raven ‘he’?> asked Rachel.

Cyborg looked up at the TV. “Rachel?” he asked.

<No some other seagull that likes to drop in on you,> Rachel snipped.

Raven eyed her with disgust. “Is this a regular thing?” she grumbled.

“Shouldn’t you know?” Beast Boy demanded.

Raven shook her head vigorously. “Absolutely not,” she said, putting up her hands in a forbidding motion. “No way am I ever touching her memories again. You’ve been in there!” She shivered. “No, you can just tell me.”

<MARCO! CASSIE! GUYS, RAVEN’S YEERKED AGAIN!> Rachel screamed.

“It’s only a half hour of exercise,” Cyborg groused.

But Raven/Temrash dodged aside again as three more seagulls flew in, throwing up a telepathic shield to keep them from clawing her. Then, “Oh, cool! I did it!” Which, of course, resulted in Cyborg’s computer breaking.

“TEMRASH!” he shouted, throwing down the laptop as he jumped to his feet. “ _That’s it! Get back in your bowl!_ ”

“Make me!” Temrash snarled, hair and cloak flowing back with the force of raised power.

“Why are we shouting?” Starfire said, entering the room. This was quickly followed by a gasp at the sight of the broken bank of windows. “What happened here?! Animorphs, why must you break our Tower?”

<We didn’t do it!> Cassie objected. <Raven, broke them.>

<You mean ‘Temrash’!> Marco raged. <You put that thing back in her head?>

“We did nothing!” Beast Boy objected. “Raven wanted to do it, and it’s not fair to keep him in the pool all the time--"

<NOT FAIR?! He’s a space invader! A brain-controller! And he took Tom against his will!>

“Hey!” Temrash snapped as Starfire shoved past him. The emotion of his declaration, of course, resulted in the speakers on the wall emitting horrible feedback. Temrash winced, then whispered something under his breath, turning off the speakers again. He turned back to the angry seagulls. “ _I_ didn’t snatch Tom. That idiot walked into a closed meeting, and my superiors snatched him. I was just assigned to the body. Big deal.”

Beast Boy was gaping at him. “Oh my god, please _shut up_!”

<That _is_ a big deal, > Rachel argued. <That is the definition of a big deal.>

Cyborg turned away from them. “Star? You okay?” he said, spying her carefully gathering shards of glass from the edge of the window.

“No, Cyborg, I am not okay,” Starfire said angrily. She threw the glass back down and spun on him. “All I want is to have a clean, peaceful, nice home for Robin to come back to! But instead everything is horrible! More horrible than ever! And I want Robin to fix it because Robin fixes everything, but Robin is not here!”

Cyborg sighed heavily. “Starfire, Robin’s not coming back,” he said, spreading his hands. “He betrayed us. Neither you nor Raven could sense any Yeerk control. My biometric scanners say that it was him. The same scanners that can tell these seagulls aren’t quite right.”

“LIES!” Starfire shouted, her eyes and fists glowing. “That was not Robin! Your scanners are wrong! Robin is our friend, and nothing could ever make him betray us!” The glow dissipated, and Starfire deflated. “Nothing,” she pouted, more to herself than anyone else.

Temrash gave her a skeptical look. “I can’t believe you’re giving me a hard time about not controlling Raven’s power right away, when Phyzzon still lets her do that sh--" Then, he caught Cyborg shifting weight and glancing away awkwardly. Raven’s eyes slowly widened as Temrash came to a realization. “Oh…” He turned back to Starfire, who was glaring at him. “Oh, that’s cuuuute.”

Starfire shoved him out the window.

“STAR!” Cyborg and Beast Boy shouted.

“What?” snapped Phyzzon. “They can levitate.” They glanced out the window to be sure. “He figured it out.”

<Wait, so your Robin is not missing?> asked Aximili.

“He’s everyone’s Robin,” Starfire grumbled. She moved out of the way so that an irritated Raven/Temrash could re-enter through the window.

“Yeah, tell me about it,” Cyborg snipped, earning a glare from Starfire and a snicker from Temrash.

“Wait,” said Beast Boy, turning to the seagulls. “How did you know Robin was missing?”

Starfire glanced over at them, blinked, and relaxed slightly as she became distracted by this new issue. “Why are there only four of you?” she asked.

<Tobias is always backup,> Rachel said.

Marco hopped forward a bit, then explained, <We noticed that while you’ve been reported on just as often as usual, Robin hasn’t been mentioned at all in like two days. That’s the same amount of time that Jake’s been missing. We… we hoped there was a connection. Because, um…>

<Because we don’t have any other leads,> said Cassie.

Cyborg sighed heavily. “I’m sorry, but we solved the Robin mystery. No sign of Jake there. I think we would have noticed.”

Even as seagulls, they were visibly disappointed, but Starfire only stepped closer, curiously. “You say that Jake disappeared two days ago?”

<Not two days exactly,> said Cassie. <Five am, the day before yesterday, we were breaking into the EGS Tower on a mission.>

“Oh, you found the Kandrona generator already?” Temrash asked cheerfully. “Good job, you.” He clapped.

“Ignore him,” Starfire instructed. “Go on.”

Temrash blinked at her in surprise. “You’re not going to yell at them at all for attacking a _food supply_?” he demanded.

“Temrash, five am yesterday is when we lost Robin,” Starfire snarled at him, exasperated. “They might _actually_ have a lead on something _important_.”

Temrash gaped at her. Then laughed. “Wow. Wow, you _really_ like him.”

“Yes, Temrash, some of us _value_ our friends’ lives,” Starfire snapped.

“Friend?” he laughed. “Are you joking?”

“Oh look, your half hour is up!” Beast Boy said suddenly.

Temrash rolled his eyes. “Make me, Kermit.”

“ **Ignore them** ,” ordered Cyborg. “What happened at the EGS Tower?”

Tobias fluttered down to the window ledge, privately called down by someone or perhaps having been kept in on the details of the conversation all along. <When they were breaking in, I was keeping an eye above,> he explained. <A man was approaching the building while they were morphing, and I warned them. I thought he looked like a villain. Jake ran around to scare him off. He fought, but Jake knocked him down. So I went around to check on the others again. When they were inside, I flew back, but Jake wasn’t there anymore. I thought he went in another entrance, but we never found him. No body. No controller.>

“You say he looked like a villain?” asked Beast Boy.

Tobias nodded his birdie head. <Yeah. He was wearing all black. Some sort of metallic pads or pieces of armor? He had a black mask with a red dot in the middle.>

“Sladebot,” Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy all realized at once.

<What?>

“Robot operated by a mercenary called Slade,” Starfire explained. “He’s been on our case since he became active in Jump City back in…” She looked around at the other Titans with wide eyes. “Our first Slade case was the same night as the Prince’s crash.”

The birds all looked at each other. <That is something which must be investigated,> said Aximili.

Cyborg nodded. “Agreed. But all we’ve got now is that Slade wants them both. Or Robin wanted Jake? And that Robin’s working for Slade now--"

<He’s _what_? > Marco snapped.

“Is there not anything else you know?” Starfire pressed, clasping her hands to show her earnestness.

A seagull shook its head. <No,> said Cassie. <That’s all we saw of him. We went ahead inside, nearly died fighting Hork-Bajir. Just when we got them out, this drone comes up and blasts us!>

“Drone?” said Starfire, tilting her head. She turned to Temrash. “When did the Yeerks develop drones?”

<You mean ‘steal,’> Ax suggested.

“You mean those no-pilot mini-planes?” said Temrash. “We don’t. Why would we? We have spaceships and Dracons, and if they were hit by full-power Dracons, they wouldn’t be here.”

<Yeah, that was the weird part,> Tobias agreed. <The beams just knocked us to the ground. They didn’t, y’know, burn or anything.>

Temrash glared at him. “You are so human it hurts. I told Iniss, but noooo. ‘He’ll eat you if you tell him that.’”

“You were hit by lasers that didn’t do anything, too?” Beast Boy said, leaping forward toward the bird, eager for more news.

Cyborg grabbed him and pulled him away. “Do not talk to the bird in an obvious way that people outside can see.”

“You know, if you’re gonna replace the windows anyway, you should really go for tinted,” Temrash suggested.

<What do you mean ‘too’?> Rachel demanded.

“We all got hit by lasers on the mission that Robin disappeared on!” Beast Boy exclaimed. “But nothing happened. The bomb Slade sent us after was a dud, and the gun defending it was too!”

Raven’s eyes widened. “Okay, going back in the pool,” Temrash decided, hurrying toward the hall. “Wish you’d said something about being hit with suspicious weaponry _before_.”

<Do you even know what superheroes _do_? > Tobias called after him.

“I knew there was more to it!” Starfire shouted. “I told you! This is all about Slade! He’s pulling something! We need to run more tests to--.”

“It’ll have to wait,” Cyborg said as an alarm went off on his arm. He raised up a small display. “There’s been another break in. Wayne Enterprises. Grab Raven. The _real_ Raven. Meet us there. Animorphs, meet us here in the morning. We’ll help you find Jake. But right now,” he said, running off toward the elevator, “there’s someone we need to stop.”


	2. Chapter 2

“You’re not walking out of here, Robin!” Cyborg shouted, standing in the space where a doorway should have been, had it not just been blown away. “Not without a fight! Titans: Go!”

They came at each other, ready for a full-on fight. Cyborg punched. He dodged. Beast Boy lunged. He dodged. He made a run for the door, past Starfire and Raven, who had been guarding the ceiling.

“It’s going to take longer to get to the roof that way,” said the voice in his earpiece.

“You mean ‘jump through the ceiling’ wasn’t a joke?”

“Not so fast,” said a second voice in the earpiece. “You have yet to achieve your objective.”

“That’s what _he’s_ for.”

“Keep going,” said the first voice. “You’ve got them. Don’t let _them_ get _you_.”

A sonic blast at the ceiling dropped debris into the hall. He vaulted it, caught his foot, and fell on his butt. “Ow.” He was almost up again when Starfire tackled him.

She slammed his shoulders against the wall. “WHERE IS ROBIN?!” she screamed, and he was certain he’d never faced anything scarier in his life. He twisted, moving to kick her, then head-butted her instead. He staggered before he ran. He then made a note to not ever head-butt anyone ever again.

Cyborg picked her up after clambering over the debris. “Starfire, I am telling you, that's--"

“It is even less Robin than before!” she insisted, shoving Cyborg off of her. “While he knows many of Robin’s skills, his utilization of them is very poor, and he has none of Robin’s scars within the area left perceivable by his costume!”

“Robin has scars?” asked Beast Boy, jumping on top of the heap. “On his head?”

Cyborg raised an eyebrow. “How close have you been looking at that boy?” he asked.

“Given recently revealed information,” Raven advised, floating down next to her friends, “I think that the next time we catch him, you should run your biometric scans again.”

Cyborg’s eyes widened. “Jake!” he realized.

“ _If_ we catch him,” said Beast Boy. “We got distracted.”

Starfire snorted. “With those skills? I doubt he has made it to the roof.” She ran for the nearest window and blasted it open with a Star Bolt. “Let us end this!” She flew out and up, followed by Raven and Beast Boy as Cyborg was forced to take the stairs. They made it to the roof before Jake, just as Starfire guessed.

What they didn’t expect was that Cyborg would beat him out, too. “Where is he?” he asked, looking around.

“That’s what I was going to ask you!” Beast Boy insisted.

“He circled back!” Starfire realized, flying back through the door that Cyborg had just come out of.

“You are leading them back to the target,” drawled the voice in the earpiece.

Robin froze in place, his hand almost on the device. “He did _what_?”

No answer.

“Jake? Jake, answer!”

“Robin, you know what happens if he abandons us,” Slade reminded him.

Robin growled and ran out after him. “Jake, I swear if you morphed－!” He was interrupted when a tiger bowled him over in the hall and kept running. Robin said something he shouldn’t have. Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to recover before Starfire rocketed down after it, spied him, and snatched him off his feet.

“What have you done with--?!” she began to demand, then stopped abruptly. She blinked at him. Then, surprisingly, she poked a spot just above his brow. “Robin…” she realized. Then, in a move that really shouldn’t have been as surprising as it was, Starfire clutched him hard in an emphatic hug. “Robin!” He felt her tears against his cheek. “Robin, what has happened?”

All he wanted was to hug them back. All he wanted was to go home with them, with his team. All he wanted was to forget any of this had ever happened, that he had ever let them down so much.

Instead, he kneed her in the gut.

He leapt back from her, then sprung forward again, kicking her into the wall, and sprung from there back to the place where the door wasn’t. He snatched the device off of its pedestal, ran back toward the door, and hopped on top of Beast Boy’s tiger form as it ran in, tumbling down its back. He landed just short of Cyborg, right in time to sweep his legs out from under him before taking off down the hall and out the window.

“What do you _mean_ he doesn’t fight like Robin?” Cyborg demanded angrily.

“No, _this_ the right one,” Starfire snarled, running toward the same window. “And I am not letting him go again!” She leapt out after him, trying to peer around in the darkness for where he’d gone.

Suddenly, all she saw was a bright red glow as pain wracked her body. She screamed. Phyzzon screamed. They lost all control, falling through the air. It was possibly one of the worst pains they had ever experienced, and it blinded them of all focus.

And then, they stopped falling. Arms wrapped around them. Somehow they felt that through the pain. They were being carried through the air. Someone put them down on the sidewalk below.

“No, don’t!” they heard Robin saying. “Only because you’ll have less leverage if they’re smears on the concrete!” Then, “Don’t worry. I’ll find him. He can’t have gone far. Just turn it off!” And, “Fine. I’m going.”

“ROBIN!” Phyzzon screamed after his retreating form.

But he didn’t come back.

－ －

If Jake had ever doubted that Robin had been going easy on him in training, he now had evidence otherwise.

“You _stupid_!” **Bapp** “ _Selfish_!” **Hwoksh** “ _Filthy_!” **Chak** “ _Incompetent_!” **Fwa-Bok** “After _everything_ I’ve done! After how much _effort_ I put in! For _you_! For _this_! You lay down my friends **as a sacrifice for yourself**!” Robin screamed as he rained down kicks and punches. They weren’t even terribly accurate; they were just fast, hard, and angry.

“Enough,” Slade interrupted. “I told you I had an interest in two apprentices. That remains the case, however Jake may attempt to rebel.”

“He’ll heal,” Robin snipped. “Since he can’t stop morphing, anyway.”

“You don’t even need me!” Jake insisted through a bloodied mouth. “I’m useless to you! I can’t do any of the things you want!”

“You’ll learn,” said Slade. “Robin is more than willing to teach you.”

Robin glared sideways at the other boy. “Whatever keeps you from killing my friends,” he hissed, vengeance glimmering in his eyes.

“If your friends are so distracting to you, Robin,” Slade said, glancing toward the two boys, “perhaps I should get rid of them.”

“No, don’t!” Robin said, stepping forward. “I’ve done everything you want! I’ve improved him! I can do even better!”

Slade turned back to his work with the stolen tech. “If you insist… But step out of line…”

“I won’t,” Robin promised. He shot a meaningful glare at Jake, who was, in fact, morphing his injuries away. “Neither of us will.”

“Work on that,” Slade said absently.

Robin sneered. “Whatever you say, sir,” he said, just before spinning to kick back a totally unprepared Jake.

“For ##### sake!” Jake snapped. “Let up for five minutes!”

“No one here _has_ five minutes,” Robin said before grabbing Jake’s uniform and throwing him into a wall. “How close did you get?” he hissed almost inaudibly.

Jake shook his head. “S’rry,” he mumbled, glancing nervously toward Slade.

Robin grabbed his hair and twisted it, soliciting a howl of pain. “Try harder next time, Killer,” he whispered.

“That’s not a constructive lesson, Robin,” Slade chided from the distance. With a sneer, Robin released Jake again.

“You’re vicious, ruthless, focused on revenge… You remind me more of myself every day,” Slade remarked. Robin stepped back from Jake, but said nothing. Jake recognized the position of his feet, though. Robin always took Slade’s remarks in a battle stance. In fact, he wasn’t sure Robin had ever once dropped out of battle stances in this place.

“I’ve been monitoring your vital signs, you know,” Slade said, switching out one of the displays on his ever-present screens. “Elevated heart rate, adrenaline, endorphins.” Robin’s hands tightened into fists and his jaw clenched. “It’s a thrill for you, isn't it?”

Robin didn’t answer. He didn’t need to. Slade liked his own voice too much.

“And Jake isn’t nearly as different as he’d like to believe,” Slade continued. “There’s similar changes in his statistics. You’ll both keep doing this, and you’ll both enjoy it, and sooner or later, you’ll see things my way. Who knows?” he said, glancing back at them briefly. “I might even become like a father to you.”

“I already have a father,” Robin whispered, but Jake said it louder, snarling. Robin winced. If someone threatened Robin’s family, he could just roll his eyes at that. But if someone threatened, Jake’s family… Well, Robin already knew how well Jake handled that issue.

Slade looked back at them again. No. This time, he looked at Jake specifically. “Are you sure?” he asked.

Jake snapped. He ran at Slade, transforming along the way. As smoothly as if it were a dance, Slade was out of his chair. He spun and jumped, hitting Jake right in the skull. Jake sprawled, but, being mid-morph, he recovered almost instantly and was charging again, and Jake was a much better fighter as a tiger.

Good enough to give Robin an opening. He darted around behind Slade to the main console, quickly typing to try to find the program in charge of the nanobots.

<AAAAGH!>

Robin glanced back to see a tiger get thrown -- _thrown_ \-- into the massive gears that surrounded them, and Jake only barely managed to avoid getting crushed. His tiger instincts were not designed for that. Robin’s eyes narrowed, and he began to suspect there was more to Slade’s abilities than he’d been letting on.

Jake hopped from one gear to another, riding them to circle Slade. Or, rather, where he’d thought Slade had been. Growling, he headed further into the workings of the machine. The very least he could do was buy Robin some time.

He found himself wandering onto a control platform, surrounded by nothing but the grinding of gears. Had he made a mistake? Had Slade simply returned to the main room knowing Jake would have to come back eventually? Was he already killing the Teen Titans while he awaited Jake’s compliance?

“Good, Jake,” said Slade, riding a gear right into view before hopping down onto the platform. “You’ve been improving. Maybe another decade of training, and you might pose a threat.”

Jake snarled, backing up a few paces. When Slade didn’t follow, he coiled and lunged. But Slade simply pulled out his extending staff and smacked Jake under the chin. Jake’s tiger reeled. Its instinct told it that when prey hit back, it was time to leave, but Jake pushed it. _No, that’s the prey. Slade is the prey. Destroy it._

The tiger lunged! Slade struck, but the tiger had already moved aside. Slade struck a pipe, and steam spilled out between them.

Jake hopped backward, trying to get as much open space as possible to see his enemy. There! In front! But as an armature passed by, he disappeared again. Jake hunched, ready to pounce again. Unfortunately, Slade swung down and kicked him from the side.

Jake went flying onto another gear. Slade jumped, moved to punch him, but Jake rolled just in time. Slade’s fist went into the heavy metal gear.

<No! Nope!> Jake cried, tucking his tail and taking off running across the gears. <Robin, tell me you turned it off, because I did _not_ sign up for this. >

No sign or signal came from Robin, though, and Jake was forced to wait again for Slade’s inevitable attack.

“AAAAGH!”

<ROBIN!> Jake ran back toward the main room.

Slade was pulling Robin out of the desk chair by his hair. He threw him to the ground. “You’re going to wish you hadn’t done that,” Slade promised.

Jake jumped between them as Robin raised to his feet. “I only wish I’d done it sooner,” Robin said. He tore the S-shaped badge from his chest and threw it down.

Slade roared and charged them, but Jake leapt up to sink claws into flesh. Instead, he barely scratched him before Slade grabbed him by the back of the neck, and Jake yelped like a kitten as he was thrown aside. Slade moved on to Robin, throwing punch after punch, and Robin barely managed to dodge each one. Finally, he saw an opening, and Robin rolled and throws a kick up into Slade’s face only for Slade to catch it.

Which is when teeth sank into Slade’s shoulder. “AGH!” he cried out. Then he sneered, “How underhanded.” He punched the animal in the face, forcing it to let go. He turned to it. “I’m almost pro-- A wolf?” His eyes scanned the room for Jake's tiger, hunched out of the way in fear, several yards away. “Jake! Attack!”

<Cassie! Go!> Jake screamed.

“You don’t know what those beams--!" Robin yelled.

<We do,> said Cassie. She spread her legs to brace for a fight and snarled viciously at Slade.

“We don’t care,” said Starfire, floating down behind them.

<We’re your friends,> said Marco. His gorilla form stood in the doorway, flanked by Cyborg and Beast Boy.

“We’re not leaving without you,” Cyborg snarled.

“How very touching,” Slade mocked them, putting his thumb over both buttons on his device. “But they don’t need friends.”

Starfire dropped to the floor, and Robin recognized Phyzzon’s confident smirk. “If you’re going to hold all the cards,” he said, “you should probably learn to count them.”

Slade’s eyes widened, and he glanced over the area, but almost instantly an Andalite tail blade shot out of the shadows behind him and wrapped around his throat, ready to guillotine him at a moment’s notice. Raven's shadows pulled away to reveal Ax and Rachel in position to rip Slade apart. Robin held his breath. Jake’s fur rose on end. Slade looked entirely unamused.

And even less impressed.

The thing that both boys and probably everyone else there knew was this: The Teen Titans didn’t kill. They didn’t allow their allies to kill. And even the “Andalite Bandits” on their own gave pause to humans that were out-matched. Everyone there knew that Ax would hesitate where Slade wouldn’t. It was a bluff. They’d come all this way with only a bluff to play.

It didn’t work.


	3. Chapter 3

“AAAAAAAAAAGH!”

The screams rang out through the room as, one by one, Animorphs and Teen Titans dropped to the floor in pain, orange and red energy coursing across their bodies. Ax’s tail went lax and dropped away as he fell. Raven and Rachel both fell aside.

“This is the price you pay for your disobedience,” Slade snarled, turning to his gaping apprentices. “Now, do as I command! Attack!”

Jake shrank back, but Robin ran forward. “No!” he howled, and Slade moved to strike against him, but Robin just ran right past him.

Slade turned. The nanoscopic probes! Robin was running right toward the device. “Robin!”

Robin slammed his palms down on the orb holding the sparking active probes. He screamed as they flooded into his system and burned through his body. His statistics joined the ten others on screen, and the glow overtook his body.

His goal achieved, he pulled himself to his feet. He stumbled, groaning, over to Slade. “New deal, Slade,” he growled. “If we lose our friends, you lose your apprentices.” And Slade could see Jake circling past them already, preparing to act on Robin’s threat. “And I know how you hate to lose.”

Slade’s icy stare watched him carefully as he collapsed to the floor and Jake neared the device. Sighing exasperatedly, Slade tore the controller away from his wrist and tossed it aside, relieving the heroes of their suffering.

There was no hesitation. Jake and Cassie took running leaps. Cassie bit into Slade’s arm, but he twisted and threw her, only for Jake to leap onto his back, claws raking deep gauges. Slade tumbled free, and moved to stand, but Starfire and Cyborg rained blasts down on him. Raven ripped him up into the air by the feet, where Marco and Beast Boy both leapt, delivering their gorilla blows.

Slade dropped, and Rachel was on him in an instant, her bear’s maw closing around his head.

<Rachel, stop.>

Rachel stopped.

Jake started to demorph. There wasn’t any point in hiding it anymore. Slade already knew, and they must have known that Slade knew. “I am really, _really_ tired of this,” Jake said. “I don’t want to be him. I don’t want you to be him. Let’s just go home.”

<Whatever,> said Rachel. Still angry and vengeful, she bit down just enough to crack Slade’s stupid, ugly mask before releasing him.

Slade rolled away quickly, hiding his face before his identity could be revealed. “Another day,” he promised, before disappearing into the shadows. They all stare after him.

<What a--> Rachel didn’t get to finish her thought as the lair began to fall apart, screens and gears disconnecting and falling free. Ax, Jake, Robin, Cassie, and Cyborg made a run for it while Raven picked up Rachel, Starfire picked up Marco, and Beast Boy flew out on his own. They all waited outside, as the building collapsed behind them.

A red-tailed hawk landed on a lamp post above them. <Took you long enough,> said Tobias. Then, <It's good to have you back, man.> Cassie seconded this by nuzzling up against Jake's leg. He crouched to hug her close, fingers buried in thick grey fur.

“Let’s go home,” Robin said, staring down the sidewalk. “I’m sure we all want that. Clearing out those nanoprobes can wait until tomorrow.”

<Uh.>

<Actually.>

He turned back, curiously, to see Cassie, Marco, and Rachel were demorphing. They looked at Jake uneasily. He stood and glanced between his friends. “What?” he asked. “You think Slade will go after us tonight?”

<Um,> Marco said again.

Jake scowled. “Um _what_?”

<Um, well, th> Unfortunately, he hit the point of demorphing where he thoughtspeak ceased to function but vocal cords had not yet come back.

Cassie, looking weirdly like the prettiest werewolf anyone had seen, reached out and took Jake’s hand. “Jake, I’m sorry. No one knew where you were. We thought either you were a Controller, and the Yeerks would come running in to abduct us at any moment, or that you were dead, in which case…” She shook her head helplessly. “We didn’t know. We were looking for enemies, Jake. And then we found an enemy, and we focused on that. We… We didn’t know we had to look out for grief counselors.”

Jake stared blankly at her. “Cassie, you’re making no sense,” he said. “What do you mean 'grief counselors'?”

“Slade made you disappear, man,” said Marco. “Without warning. Without a trace. They thought some villain might've done something to you. They… They went to counseling.”

Cassie started crying, mumbling how sorry she was.

“No.” Jake pulled away. “No…” He was shaking his head, stepping back away from them as though the truth was somehow contagious. “No. Nope. Nuh-uh.”

Rachel threw her arms around his shoulders. She pulled him against her chest and pressed her nose into his hair.

“No!” Jake insisted, tears pouring down his face. “No, that didn’t happen! It can’t have happened! Not after Tom! They can’t do that! No! NO! _NO! **NO!**_ ” He was screaming then, struggling against Rachel, who just calmly held him in place. “NO!!”

\-- --

It was a long, silent ride up the elevator to the main floor of Titans Tower.

“It’s weird,” Jake said at last.

Robin glanced over his shoulder at him. “What’s weird?”

“That thing, with Slade, when we both said we have fathers,” Jake mumbled, and everyone winced. “You don’t really think about heroes having parents.”

Suddenly, Robin started laughing. “ _What_?” he demanded, turning part way to face Jake.

Jake just shrugged. He still looked kind of out-of-it, but that was understandable in the situation. “I’m just saying that to normal people, you’re like… these _figures_. These… I don’t know. You just _are_. Heroes. You never think about people like Superman or Batman or Wonder Woman or Huntress being real people with real lives and… and parents.”

“You just named two orphans and a child of gods,” Robin said.

“Oh,” Jake said. And, for a moment, that seemed to bring him out of it a bit. He even blushed in embarrassment. Then, confused, he looked at Robin again. “Wait, I named four people.”

Robin shrugged. “We don’t talk about Batman,” he said. And, before they could continue the conversation, the elevator doors dinged open behind him.

“Uh…” said Beast Boy, pointing past Robin’s waist to the open door. “You wanna try that again?”

“Huh?” Robin turned to see, there, in the middle of their dark living room

was Batman.

“Does this happen a lot?” asked Jake.

“No,” said Starfire, reaching back to put a hand on Jake’s chest. It was glowing just slightly.

Though no one but Robin could really tell, given the cowl, Batman was looking at them very skeptically in that moment. Robin stepped out slowly, nervously, but everyone else stayed inside. “Uh, hi…” said Robin. “Batman. What… Actually, _how_ did you get in here?”

Batman turned slightly to indicate the large bank of broken windows and the birds that had taken shelter on their living room floor.

“I am never, _never_ trying that again,” Raven mumbled, and Jake glanced at her quizzically.

“Okay, um.” Robin scratched the back of his neck. “Why?”

Batman stepped closer. Robin stepped back. Again, Batman looked at him with confusion. “You broke into a Wayne Enterprises building and a weapons facility," he explained. "Normally, I’d trust this was a tactical move, and that eventually you would return the items and to your hero identity. But a boy went missing at the same time. There have been animal attacks all over the city. Your windows exploded. Repeatedly. And there’s a new hero team with very similar abilities to your own team which has been attacking schools, community centers, and hospitals.” Batman crossed his arms over his chest. “I was worried,” he said. He glanced at Raven. “Are you inside my head?” he asked.

“Just checking for aliens,” she said. “He’s clean. I’m going to bed.” She pushed past Robin and made her way to her room.

Batman watched her for a moment, no doubt analyzing every detail of her mannerisms for tells and weaknesses, then turned back to Robin. “Aliens?” he asked.

Robin’s eyes darted to the windows. “Yeah, we’re talking about that in the Control Room,” he said. He turned back to his team. “Star and Phyz, I want you to check over this whole building. He’s right; the windows are a problem. Cyborg, run a security sweep of the whole building and its systems. Quadruple check. Beast Boy, find a room for Jake, bed clothes, a change of clothes…” Robin glanced at Jake. “A new personality…” he mumbled.

“Hey!”

“That sounds like a lot,” Beast Boy complained, but he pulled Jake out of the elevator anyway, hurrying off down the hall. Starfire flew past Robin and Batman and out a broken window. Cyborg took the elevator back down to a lower level.

And then they were alone. Robin looked up at his mentor. He looked away. He headed toward the Control Room. It was a long walk, but he didn’t want to take the elevator. The elevator would have made it less long. Finally, they reached the Control Room, and Robin held open the door for him before following him inside and closing it behind them. He leaned against the door and breathed deeply, trying to collect his thoughts.

“You only stand by the door when you think you’ve done something wrong,” Batman noted.

“ _That_ is why no one likes you,” Robin grumbled.

“Robin, I am a detective,” said Batman, sitting in a desk chair next to a lifeless console. “I know why no one likes me. Why are you afraid of me?”

Robin swallowed nervously and glanced aside. “It’s not _you_ I’m afraid of,” he admitted quietly.

A moment of quiet as Batman dismantled the statement into tiny details then filed them away to look at again later. “Why is all the equipment unplugged?” he asked.

“To prevent anyone using it to look in,” said Robin. “Without actually putting up the firewalls and things that say ‘yeah, we totally know that you’re here, and we don’t trust you.’”

Again, that curious, dissecting expression. “Justice League?” asked Batman, already concluding both who _could_ hack the Control Room and who the Titans wouldn’t want to know that they’d didn’t trust. “What did they do this time?”

Robin groaned and looked up at the ceiling. “Maybe I should start at the beginning,” he said.

“Alright.”

Robin gathered his thoughts, trying to figure out how to push through it all quickly without leaving out anything important. Worse, he knew which parts would be important. “A few months ago, we were taking down Plasmus when we saw lights in the sky. ‘We’ being me, Raven, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Starfire, and Phyzzon, though we didn’t know about him yet.”

That skeptical look. “Is he invisible?” Batman grunted.

“No. Well, in practicality, I suppose,” said Robin. “He lives in Starfire’s head; I’ll get to that in a minute. Anyway, the lights were followed by explosive energy weapons in the distance. Since we’d finished up Plasmus and Cyborg had gotten Cinderblock, I sent Starfire and Beast Boy to investigate, with the rest of us coming as quickly as possible.

“She found three spaceships, later identified as two Yeerk Bug fighters and one Yeerk Blade ship, and a slew of aliens. Starfire and Beast Boy later reported that there were humans, too, but they were gone by the time I showed up. The aliens were gathered around another alien. And Andalite. It’s sort of like a blue centaur. I can show you la--"

“There’s been an Andalite documented on this planet before,” said Batman.

Robin blinked at him. “... Awesome.” He sighed and thought about what he would say next. “Anyway, when Starfire recognized what was happening, she grabbed the injured Andalite and took off. She only had time to tell us that the big one was trying to eat Beast Boy as she took the Andalite back to the Tower. When--" Robin’s voice caught in his throat, and his hand tightened on the doorknob behind him, reminding him that he was here voluntarily, that he wanted to do this. That only a low coward would open that door and run away from responsibility.

But that didn’t mean he could look Batman in the eye. “As soon as we showed up,” he choked out, “the Taxxons, which are like giant centipedes, tried to bite chunks out of us. It was the Hork-Bajir, big reptiles with blades, that attacked with purpose. Even the really big one that kept eating people moved with purpose.”

“It was eating people?” repeated Batman. “As in dead and gone, not just temporarily swallowed?”

Robin nodded. “There was chewing involved.” Batman leaned forward and looked sharply at him. Robin squirmed and looked away. “The thing is, because of that… Their wildness… We… We thought the Taxxons were attack dogs. We… we didn’t know they were sentient. We killed twelve of them before beating a retreat.”

Silence stretched between them, and Robin was debating throwing up when Batman finally leaned back, pulled his cowl back, and said, “Then what happened?”

Robin pulled his mask off angrily. “‘Then what happened?’” he demanded. “Really? You’re not going--?”

“First of all,” Bruce interrupted, “there is obviously nothing I can tell you that you haven’t told yourself. But I doubt that we will not have that conversation anyway. For now, I want to hear about what happened.” He leaned forward again. “So… _then what happened_?”

Dick took a deep breath. “We took in the Andalite and attempted to treat him, but he was resistant. Starfire would later tell us that normally they commit ritual suicide when captured which, in his mind, he was. But he seemed to be holding out for something. I never found out what.”

Bruce leaned his chin on his hand, and Dick swallowed and continued. “Anyway, the police covered up the aliens, said it was kids shooting off fireworks and that they were looking for the kids. That was my first sign that something was up. Starfire explained to us then what the Yeerks were. That all those aliens were Yeerks. They’re a slug-like species that pushes into a host through the ear canal, wraps themself around the brain, and takes control.”

Bruce raised an eyebrow. “What if the host doesn’t have an ear canal or suitable brain?” he asked.

Dick swallowed. “According to the current policies of the Yeerk Empire?” he said. “Species that are not of use are destroyed. Killed. The whole species.”

Bruce scowled. “And Starfire is possessed by one of these? And you know that and work with her?”

Dick shook his head, insisting, “Starfire and Phyzzon 355 are symbiotic. I’ve talked to her separately. I’ve learned to tell the difference between her, him, and the both of them acting together.”

“As much faith as I have in your abilities, I’d be happier hearing evidence of her consent beyond her potentially manipulated words,” said Bruce.

“Besides the fact that they could have lied about the Yeerks?” said Dick. “The first time I knowingly talked to her independently of him, he was outside of her body. Yeerks have to leave a host every three days to feed in a pool. If they don’t, they die. Starfire owns a small, portable pool. Phyzzon was swimming in it. She looked lonely. She had her finger in the tank, playing with him as he swam around.”

Bruce nodded. “So she told you about the Yeerks. Then what?”

Dick thought for a moment. “Well, she told us about the Yeerks _and_ the Taxxons, actually. Well, Taxxon-Controllers. We haven’t met a Taxxon or Hork-Bajir on its own.”

“And she told you they were sentient?”

“Semi-sentient, whatever that means,” said Dick. He shrugged and looked aside again. “Shortly after that, we were visited by her sister, Blackfire, who was on the run from the Centauri Police, unbeknownst to us. She tried to frame Starfire and tried to sell the Andalite to the Yeerks. The Andalite killed himself, Blackfire ran, and we caught her.”

“What’s the relationship between the Andalites and the Yeerks?” asked Bruce, and Dick shrugged.

“They’re at war,” Dick explained. “The Andalites are the main force fighting Yeerks in the galaxy. Phyzzon or Starfire will drop information as it comes up, but there’s something being held back. Something personal. They took a lot of abuse from the Andalite they rescued, have made repeated comments about Andalites, and now that we know another Andalite, it’s near impossible to get anything done with both in the same room.”

“So where does the Justice League come in?” asked Bruce.

“Well, an invasion force that escalates the fight to murder as soon as you show up is, frankly, above our pay grade,” said Dick. “So I called Superman.”

Bruce perked up at that. “Superman? Why not me?”

“Because I’d just killed twelve people?” said Dick. “Because, if I called you, and you _weren’t_ the one who answered…” He swallowed, trying to keep from throwing up or crying. “I couldn’t face it. Not then. It was too much at once.”

Bruce frowned. “So what did Superman say?”

Dick scowled, anger rising up in him. He looked at Bruce then, finally looked him right in the eyes. “It wasn’t Superman who answered,” he said. “It was a Controller. They have heroes, Bruce. They have the Kryptonians.”


End file.
